Conservative Albertans Big Spenders!

Wow! The Canadian Taxpayer's Association dissing an Alberta budget. It must be better than I thought. The province has a backlog of infrastructure investment that was delayed by Klein. With a generous surplus in spite of all the expenditures the province could probably have invested even more in infrastructure.


Alberta budget promises record $33B in spending
Last Updated: Thursday, April 19, 2007 | 7:26 PM MT
CBC News
The Alberta government is spending a record $33 billion this year — pumping billions into schools, roads and health care — and still expecting a $2 billion surplus.


Alberta budget 2007 highlights
$33 billion in spending and $35 billion in revenue will leave an estimated surplus of $2 billion.
A 16 per cent increase in tobacco taxes starting at midnight Thursday adds $5 to a carton of cigarettes.
$447 million for affordable housing over the next three years.
$18 billion for building projects over three years, including roads, schools and hospitals.
A 17 per cent increase in total spending, with program spending up 10 per cent over last year's budget.
A new formula will divert one-third of unbudgeted surplus cash into savings, two-thirds into projects.
$400 million in new municipal funding, which will reach $1.4 billion annually after four years.
A 26 per cent hike in the education tax credit for post-secondary students and their parents.
In announcing the 2007-2008 budget on Thursday, Finance Minister Lyle Oberg said Alberta has to catch up to the rapid pace of the province's economic growth.

"It is record spending. That's because our province is at record levels of population. It's at record levels of economic growth. It's at record low levels of unemployment."

Critics dismissed the budget.

"This is not the price of prosperity," said Opposition Liberal Leader Kevin Taft in his pre-budget news conference.

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"This is the price of a government that stuck its head in the sand while oilsands project after oilsands project was announced and implemented.

"This is the price of bad management."

Scott Hennig, Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, called the spending "irresponsible."

"I hope somewhere in that $33 billion they are hiring some clergy to pray for high oil and gas prices, because that's what they're going to need to maintain this budget," he said.


$18 billion for schools, roads, hospitals
This is Premier Ed Stelmach's first budget and the spending increases focus on catching up to the infrastructure backlog that built up under Premier Ralph Klein, who channelled previous multibillion-dollar surpluses into paying off the province's debt.

Over the next three years, $18 billion will be spent on building projects such as schools, roads and health facilities — many of them previously announced ventures that have been made more expensive by Alberta's soaring construction costs.